For if they do these things in the green tree, what will be done in the dry?”
Parallel translations
- KJV For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?
- BSB For if men do these things while the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
- ESV For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
- NKJV For if they do these things in the green wood, what will be done in the dry?”
- NASB For if they do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
- NLT For if these things are done when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Jesus asked, if such things are done to the green tree, what will happen to the dry. If the innocent suffers so, the guilty face far worse.
Overview
This proverbial saying contrasts the green (living, innocent) tree with the dry (dead, guilty) one. If God permits the righteous Jesus to suffer crucifixion, the judgment awaiting impenitent Jerusalem will be far more severe. The verse underscores the gravity of sin and the certainty of judgment for those who refuse the One who suffered for them.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- 1 Pet 4:17–18For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God. If it begins first with us, what will happen to those who don’t obey the Good News of God?
- John 15:6If a man doesn’t remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch, and is withered; and they gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
- Prov 11:31Behold, the righteous shall be repaid in the earth; how much more the wicked and the sinner!
- Ezek 20:47–48and tell the forest of the South, ‘Hear Yahweh’s word: Thus says the Lord Yahweh, “Behold, I will kindle a fire in you, and it shall devour every green tree in you, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned thereby.
- Ezek 15:2–7“Son of man, what is the vine tree more than any tree, the vine-branch which is among the trees of the forest?
- Matt 3:12His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor. He will gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.”
- Ezek 21:3–4Tell the land of Israel, ‘Yahweh says: “Behold, I am against you, and will draw my sword out of its sheath, and will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked.
- Jer 25:29For, behold, I begin to work evil at the city which is called by my name; and should you be utterly unpunished? You shall not be unpunished; for I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth, says Yahweh of Armies.”’
- Heb 6:8but if it bears thorns and thistles, it is rejected and near being cursed, whose end is to be burned.
- Dan 9:26After the sixty-two weeks the Anointed One shall be cut off, and shall have nothing: and the people of the prince who shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and its end shall be with a flood, and even to the end shall be war; desolations are determined.
- Jude 1:12These are hidden rocky reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you, shepherds who without fear feed themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 23:31 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.